Stock up with the Goodies as 2 Long Distance Sebring Races Later this week with the C8.Rs

teamzr1

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Maybe best Corvette Racing this weekend
One C8.R for WEC and one C8.R for IMSA

Both the WEC 1,000 Mile Sebring race
and then IMSA 12-hours of Sebring race starting on Thursday of this week

IMSA – 12 Hours of Sebring
Wednesday, March 16, 2022, to Saturday, March 19
Broadcast Schedule and Live Timing
2022 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts | IMSA

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 19.
The race will air on the USA Network from 3:30-10:30 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock at 10 a.m. ET.
IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning at IMSA.com along with Sirius 216, XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.
Race 3:30 PM to 10:30 PM (ET)

WEC – 1,000 Miles of Sebring Friday 3/18/22

FIA World Endurance Championship and Live Timing
 

teamzr1

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C8.R Corvette Racing is entering a bit of unknown territory this weekend when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship resumes at an all-too-familiar venue.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is the second round of the 2022 championship and the next challenge for the new GT Daytona (GTD) PRO-spec Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

The Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg lineup is coming off a sixth-place GTD PRO finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona to begin the new season.
Two weeks later, Garcia and Taylor were at Sebring to continue the testing and development program for the GTD-spec Corvette C8.R, which has some significant differences from the GT Le Mans (GTLM) trim in which the Corvettes raced a year ago.

The mass of this year’s Corvette is 60 kilograms (132 pounds) heavier than 2021 at Sebring. Per GTD regulations, the 5.5-liter, flat-plane crank V8 in the C8.R will have less power compared to a year ago; due to the required air restrictor, air flow has been reduced by 15 percent.
The C8.R also will compete with 10 liters less fuel than a year ago and eight liters less than any other GTD car in this year’s Sebring race.

The biggest area of learning for Corvette Racing continues to be the customer Michelin tires that are mandated across all GTD cars, as compared to Michelin's specifically developed for the C8.R in GTLM. Corvette Racing engineers dedicated significant time at the February test to gaining further understanding of the performance and degradation levels of the new Michelins.
That combined with the familiar bumps all around the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit puts a premium on initial chassis setup ahead of Thursday’s first practice.
Corvette Racing has won 12 times at Sebring since 2002 with 11 of those coming in the 12 Hours. Garcia is a three-time winner at Sebring, with Taylor winning once. Chevrolet ranks second in all-time manufacturer victories in the 12 Hours with 40.

Sebring and Corvette share a rich history going back nearly 25 years, with more than 51,000 miles worth of racing plus many more miles in testing and development over the last quarter-century.

Chevrolet Motorsports Display, Ride and Drive Return to Sebring
In addition to the many happenings on the racetrack at Sebring, fans will have plenty to see and experience from Chevrolet. That’s because two locations at the circuit – Chevrolet’s Motorsports Display and the Chevrolet Ride and Drive will be full of Chevy vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend.

The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 9 a.m. Thursday, 8:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m.
Saturday in the Sebring Midway. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:

• The highly anticipated 2023 Corvette Z06 convertible and a rolling cut-away example of the Z06
• Additional Chevrolet products such as Camaro 1SS, Blazer RS, Colorado ZR2, Tahoe High Country and Silverado Crew ZR2
• A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar
• An opportunity to receive a 2022 Corvette t-shirt

Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg will team together in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM C8.R the lone Corvette competing in the 12 Hours.
It’s the first time the program has entered a single car for an IMSA round since 2000 the second year of the Corvette Racing program.
The team is still running two Corvettes during 2022: one in IMSA and another in the GTE Pro category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which also is competing on the “Super Sebring” doubleheader weekend.

Also beginning Thursday, fans visiting the Sebring Skidpad outside of Turn 17 can sample a Chevrolet vehicle for themselves at the Ride and Drive event.
Starting at 9 a.m. each day, spectators have the chance to test a wide variety of Chevrolets including Blazer RS, Camaro LT1, Colorado ZR2, Equinox RS, Silverado 1500 Trail Boss, Tahoe High Country and Traverse Premier.

The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 19.
The race will air on the USA Network from 3:30-10:30 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock at 10 a.m. ET. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning at IMSA.com along with Sirius 216, XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“I always have a good feeling coming to Sebring. The fan support is always great with so many Corvettes. We have had many excellent and fun races there over the years. Much of that comes down to how often Corvette Racing tests and prepares at Sebring each year.
We know just about every bump and curb around the track. That knowledge helps when there is so much new in our Corvette that we are still learning. We made some good progress during our recent test there, so let’s see where we can arrive for the first session.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Sebring gives us a chance to regroup after what was a tough race at Daytona. We learned a lot there that carried over into some testing a few weeks ago. There still is a lot we are working to understand, but the biggest thing continues to be the Michelin tires. This will be a critical area at every race in IMSA.
Corvette Racing is always at the top when it comes to engineering and execution, so there’s not a group I’d rather have to work with through these challenges. I’m confident we will be just fine at Sebring.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

I don’t think the approach changes for Sebring much. We unfortunately will have half the information we usually have. In practices with two cars, you can run one car on one level of downforce, different tire pressures and others to learn quickly. It will be a new challenge for the team, but we won’t have to change the approach, but it will be different.
“I think this will be insane!
We saw last year that the restarts at Sebring can be intense. We were pushed out of the lead last year, and I think this year will be even more intense.
There will be so many more GT cars to manage, and it only makes things that much more intense.”

CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: By the Numbers

• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 23 years at Sebring: Corvette Racing and Chevrolet.
• 3: Tracks where Corvette Racing has competed in each of its previous 23 years: Sebring, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
• 4: GT class pole positions at Sebring for Oliver Gavin and Ron Fellows, tied for most in event history.
• 8: Sebring victories – a race record – for Johnny O’Connell, a Sebring Hall of Famer who drove for Corvette Racing from 2001-10. It includes one overall and seven class wins.
• 12: Number of Sebring victories for Corvette Racing – the most of any venue in program history. Eleven of those have come in the 12 Hours.
• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001.
• 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen.
• 28: Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing, ending in 2021.
• 32: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Marco Sorensen was the newest, joining the team at the Rolex 24.
• 120: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 112 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 251: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 51,739.32: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing at Sebring. That’s more than two full trips around the Earth at its equator (approx. 24,900 miles).
• 337,892.80: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon!
 

teamzr1

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There were two practice sessions yesterday for the WEC 1,000 mile Sebring race

For second practice :

LMGTE Pro

Michael Christensen leads the LMGTE Pro class after setting the best time of 1m58.488s in the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR
Corvette Racing second as Nick Tandy posts a 1m58.580 to get within 0.092s of the Porsche
A 1m58.889s lap by Richard Lietz ensures that the top three in class are separated by less than 0.5s
AF Corse Ferraris placed fourth and fifth in LMGTE Pro as No.51 488 GTE Evo laps narrowly quicker than the sister No.52 car

wecprac.jpgwecp1.jpg

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teamzr1

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Here are results from the next practices for both IMSA and WEC

Notice the #64 C8.R in WEC is running 3 seconds a lap faster than the #3 GTD-Pro in IMSA
Same day, track and about 1 hour apart

Does this prove that WeatheTtech who owns that IMSA series and has two cars in the same class as the C8.Rs
is in fact hitting it with BoP on purpose to slow it down and not win races ?

Easy to see comparing the two groups that the #3 C8.R is way behind the leading cars in that class

WECP3.jpgimsap1.jpg
 

teamzr1

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Second IMSA practice session and C8.R still not doing much better and 2 seconds a lap slower than the lead car :(

imsap2.jpg
 

teamzr1

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After qualifying here is how they will start the 1,000 mile WEC Sebring race tomorrow, Friday

C8.R Corvette Racing’s Nick Tandy qualified third in GTE Pro on Thursday ahead of the team’s first full-season race in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Tandy piloted the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to a lap of 1:57.696 (114.394 mph) around Sebring International Raceway.

Tandy’s time was 0.463 seconds off Michael Christensen’s pole-winning time. Tandy will start Friday’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring – the season-opening race for the WEC – and share duties with Tommy Milner.

Optimism has been high in the Corvette Racing WEC garage since last weekend’s Prologue test days, which saw the Corvette match the pace of the other GTE Pro manufacturer teams.
That continued during Wednesday and Thursday’s official practices, with the yellow Corvette running second or third across the sessions.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Sebring and Corvette have a rich history going back nearly 25 years, with more than 51,000 miles worth of racing and more than that in testing and development over the last quarter-century. Part of that total came during the 2019 season when Corvette Racing entered one C7.R in the FIA WEC round at Sebring in a one-off in addition to entries in that year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon ET on Friday.
The race will air live on MotorTrend with live-streaming coverage of the race and qualifying on the MotorTrend app.
Radio Le Mans will broadcast the race, qualifying and all practice sessions.

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTE PRO:

“It pretty much ran as expected. It looked during the course of the week that the Porsche is pretty quick on a single lap, and so they were.

What I’m pleased with about that session is that it’s the first time we’ve run in full qualifying trim and ran a program on how we strategize a 10-minute WEC qualifying session. We pretty much nailed everything.
The changes to the car were excellent.

It’s really reactive, which is promising and makes us look forward to the race that much more.
With the red flag early, I think we maximized everything potential, laps and track position. It was good teamwork.”

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teamzr1

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Results of third practice,
C8.R still doing poorly
frown


Last practice tomorrow morning and then qualify

P3.jpg
 

teamzr1

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Any chance of a BOP update before qualifying? :unsure:

Looking forward to the WEC today - Go Corvette! :cool:(y)

C8.R Corvette Racing has received a mid-event Balance of Performance change by IMSA ahead of qualifying for tomorrow’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The GTD Pro class No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R will be permitted to run with a 1 mm larger air restrictor, which equates to roughly a 20 horsepower increase over the levels it ran in Thursday’s practice sessions at Sebring International Raceway.

In addition, the Pratt & Miller-built car will have a four-liter larger fuel capacity to compensate for the increased power.

The BoP change was communicated at 8:19 a.m. ET, less than 40 minutes prior to final practice for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams.

According to IMSA, the change was made to “maintain competitive equivalency” between cars in the class.

The Corvette, driven by Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia and Nicky Catsburg, had been at the bottom of the time sheets in the practice sessions, with the 50th quickest overall time combined on Thursday.

With those changes, the C8.R finally is running the same speeds as the lead cars.
Race is tomorrow, today though is the WEC 1,000 mile Sebring race

imsaq.jpg
 

teamzr1

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Thank the Lord they finally got some BOP help! 🙏

Starting P3 in both races. GO CORVETTE! :cool:(y)

Really shows how WeatherTech sticks C8.Rs with crappy BoP and when given the right changes better chance to compete
but only race will show if only 20 flywheel HP and added fuel volume gain will help for a win
 

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
Did you know ?

Supplying tires to the entirety of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field (53 cars), as well as the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (45), Porsche Carrera Cup (43) and the majority of the World Endurance Championship field is a ton of tires needed
In all, Michelin is providing tires for 163 cars for the Super Sebring weekend. Michelin has brought 15,000 tires in all, including 4,500 wets.

That means setting up a 24,000-square-foot tent that’s been at Sebring International Raceway since March 1.
Inside that tent are 10 tire mounting machines, 10 balancing machines, five inflation cages, 340 feet of roller tracks, plus two 100 kilowatt generators and three 375 CFM air compressors to make it all work.
A staff of 28 people are controlling the inventory, mounting, balancing and delivering tires to the teams.
 
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